BAY MINETTE, Alabama -- Baldwin County Probate Judge Tim Russell hopes a federal grant can help increase voter turnout in the county and make the area a more powerful player in state elections.

(file)Baldwin County Probate Judge Tim Russell

"We have a passion about voting here, and I want us to be number one in voting in the state of Alabama," Russell told county commissioners this week at Tuesday’s work session. "We could have 40,000 or 50,000 votes up for grabs, and that could change the outcome of a statewide election."

Baldwin currently has some 115,200 registered voters, and roughly half of them voted in the last election. Russell said his goal is a 70 percent turnout.

Russell said he plans to use the first part of a $259,750 federal grant through the Alabama Secretary of State’s office to get the youngest voters to the polls in larger numbers. The grant program is designed to improve administration of federal elections, and educate voters, officials and poll workers as well as make voting places and processes more accessible.

The first phase, the Baldwin County Preparing Future Voters Program, will focus on voter education in county schools. In preparation for the 2012 presidential election, according to county records, students will have the opportunity to fill out a voter registration application and go through the motions of casting a ballot in a practice setting. There will be lessons on voter vocabulary, polling places and duties of poll workers to make 18-year-olds more comfortable with the civic duty.

The proposal includes the purchase of a van with a trailer that can take voting machinery from school to school.

"We had a large registration drive for high school seniors," Russell said, "but 10 percent or less voted."

With more than 2,000 seniors last fall at or near eligibility, only about 544 registered to vote, he said, and only 122 of those cast ballots last fall.

Under the terms of the grant, officials said, county officials must present plans for spending the money and get approval from the state. Once a project is approved, the county pays related costs and submits a claim for reimbursement.

Baldwin County Registrar Doris A. Hearn said the county’s voter roll has grown from some 72,000 when she took office seven years ago to its current size. She said the registrars visit high schools twice a year and are in "constant contact and working with schools" to help get eligible teens on board.